CHAPTER 23
“I’ll bet I can find more water than you and Lujo,” Nolen challenged Butu soon after they broke camp.
Butu saw where this was going. “You really don’t have a chance of winning that bet. Out here in the open like this I can feel everything for miles around.”
Lujo snorted a laugh. “Everything except all that water we walked past last night, of course. If you want a game, though, I’m happy to beat you both at it.”
“What’s the wager?” Butu asked.
Nolen shrugged. “Losers take the winner’s next two watches.”
“You’re on,” Butu said. “I could use a nice night’s sleep.”
“I’m in, too, Nolen,” Lujo said. “I give you two days before you learn how to sleep whenever you have the chance, heat or no heat.”
“Are you alright with this, corporal?” Jani asked.
Blay shrugged. “I’ll tell you three what. I’ll let you make your bets as long as you find more water than Tirud does.”
Tirud smiled knowingly as he slid off his camel and walked away with water marker in hand. Butu noticed the slightly darker patch of sand only after Tirud placed the marker near it. Groans answered his broad smile when he turned back.
“Come here, squad.” They obeyed.
“You need to develop a keen eye to find water in the shanjin,” Tirud lectured amiably. “Sand color varies, so a change in color doesn’t always mean water, but if you see a spot that’s a different color than any other sand in the area, it’s usually worth a look.” He prodded the darker patch with the toe of his boot, revealing lighter sand underneath and a long, slim root.
“Bitterroot,” Retus said, voice cracking. He made a face.
Tirud nodded. “Dark green and almost flush with the ground to hide from desert grazers. The plant isn’t good to eat, but it means water hidden not far underground. The bitterroot has a long root, but Turun shovels can burrow much deeper. The delegation will dig a well here, whether it’s a trickle of a spring or something larger.”
I didn’t even feel it, Butu thought. And it was only a few dozen paces away. I need to try harder.
“Valleys are usually the best places to look,” Tirud continued. “Green is a dead giveaway, but pretty much any color other than brown is just as clear a signal. As you can tell, though, even brown doesn’t always mean there’s no water nearby.”
“Better think up some good rhymes,” Blay told them with a smirk.
More groans and taunts as they mounted their camels. Tirud led them up the side of a dune, and they plodded along its ridge for a short distance before returning to a valley.
Butu, Lujo and Nolen repeated a water-finding chant as they rode, while Blay, Jani and Tirud looked for other signs of water along their route. Retus and Phedam swung back and forth between chanting and keeping watch, changing their approach whenever someone found some.
Once they had made it a game, Nolen, Lujo and Butu had no trouble feeling nearby water. After Tirud’s initial find, Nolen sniffed out the first two spots within an hour of each other just before they halted for a break. Lujo found one a mile later. Tirud’s next find was the biggest Butu had felt all day. Three hours before they made camp, Blay found his first source, crowing like a second-cycler himself.
Then, near the end of the day, Butu sensed an underground stream deep under a dune. At first, Lujo accused him of trying to get out of watch duty, but Nolen felt it, too. After some chanting, even Lujo had to admit he had overlooked a large reservoir of water.
As the sun touched the horizon, Nolen uncovered a cactus at the base of one of the dunes, barely concealed by blowing sand.
“Are you sure this is the shanjin?” he joked. “That’s three for me, today. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re actually marching next to the Riphil River.”
Lujo urged his camel forward and wiped his face with his pryud. “The curse of the shanjin — a major miraman. Those children flipped over an entire river valley, making it vanish.”
“You mean there’s a river underneath us?”
“It’s all true,” Lujo insisted. “You’d be amazed how much stuff is true.”
“He’s right,” Tirud said. “The Clanless use the underground rivers to navigate the shanjin.”
“That’s what you’re using to guide us, too, isn’t it?” Jani asked.
Tirud shrugged, but his smile betrayed the truth.
“That’s enough for today,” Blay announced. “We’ll stop here for the night. We’ll replenish our own water supplies here. Butu and Nolen will dig the well. Jani, Phedam, Lujo and Retus will stand the night’s watches.”
Butu and Nolen rolled their eyes, but they unloaded shovels and got to work as the rest set up camp. The water wasn’t deep, and they soon had enough of a pool to refill the waterskins. The sunset wasn’t as spectacular as the sunrise, but the cool air made them all sigh in relief as they settled in for an evening meal.
“You’ve done some impressive work today,” Tirud congratulated them. “It’ll get harder as we get deeper into the shanjin, though.”
Nolen yawned. “I’m much more exhausted than hungry. I’m going to turn in now.”
“Drink your water, first,” all of them said at once.
They all looked at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter. Nolen smirked around another yawn and took the canteen. When it was empty, he tossed it to Butu, who caught it easily and shook it. Their eyes met.
Second watch will be Lujo and Retus, Butu thought. I can practice with them. That’s probably why he didn’t get any sleep.
“Good night, shumi,” Phedam said, quietly. He looked down at his hands.
We should invite Phedam. He and Nolen haven’t spent much time together lately. Butu thought of Paka, remembered times when he didn’t see his shumi for most of a day and how lonely he felt. And today, Butu and Nolen had worked together while Phedam had struggled.
I know how you feel, he thought silently to Phedam. I’ll try to help.
Kingmaker Page 23